Within any network, and specifically telephone networks, there are a variety of potential routes over which a signal can travel. There can be tens of thousands of locations, such as cell towers, handling signals that need to be eventually routed to a point of contact with a provider's network. It is, of course, possible to directly route the signals from each location back to the point of contact. For example, in theory, each cell tower could be directly routed back to a Mobile Switching Center (MSC). This approach would be expensive, as each line used has an associated cost.
It is therefore desirable to aggregate locations before routing the signal back to the MSC. Current network design does utilize the concept of aggregating locations into a number of hubs to lower the number of lines needed. The current network design does not, however, systematically approach the concept of hub selection. Rather than a formal process, the current network design process involves institutional knowledge about the various locations and is basically a trial-and-error process. Using current network design, there is little data supporting the selection and analysis of aggregation hubs, so one cannot be sure that one potential route through the network is any better than another.
It would be desirable to have and utilize a system that identifies the best potential hub aggregation locations throughout a network and that can analyze the cost implications associated with selected hubs and routes for the signals. Such a system should allow a network planner to order a minimum number of lines and to use the ordered lines most effectively.